Left elbow pain: spiritual meaning and emotional causes

What left elbow pain is

Left elbow pain is pain in or around the left elbow joint, where the upper arm meets the two bones of the forearm. Where it hurts gives a first clue. Pain on the outer side, worse when gripping, lifting or turning a handle, is usually tennis elbow, an overuse problem of the forearm tendons. Pain on the inner side is often golfer's elbow, its mirror image. A soft swelling over the point of the elbow is olecranon bursitis, often from leaning on it. Tingling in the ring and little fingers points to the ulnar nerve, the "funny bone", being pressed, for example by sleeping with the arm bent. Arthritis, gout, a fracture or a dislocation after a fall are other causes.

For right-handed people the left is the non-dominant arm, so a left tennis elbow often has a clear source: carrying a child, a shopping bag or a laptop bag on that arm, two-handed work, or a new sport or hobby. For left-handed people, it is the working arm.

The left arm also matters for a reason that has nothing to do with the elbow. Pain from the heart, in angina or a heart attack, often spreads from the chest into the left arm. Left arm pain with chest pressure, breathlessness, sweating, nausea, or pain in the jaw or neck needs emergency help: call 999 in the UK, 911 in the US or 112 in the EU.

Most tendon pain at the elbow settles over weeks to months with relative rest from the provoking movement, a change in grip, simple painkillers, a strap if it helps, and exercises that rebuild strength gradually.

The emotional meaning of left elbow pain

Spiritually, the elbows give you freedom of movement and the flexibility to change direction when life brings something new. They are the joint that turns a wish into a gesture. Healthy elbows also let you hold someone close. In the map of the left and right sides of the body, the left side carries the receptive, feminine principle, in men and women alike: feeling, intuition, tenderness, receiving, the home, and the women in your life. So the left elbow tends to ask about flexibility in matters of the heart.

A change of heart you resist

Elbow pain is linked to a lack of flexibility and a fear of being stuck in an unpleasant situation. On the left, the change you resist is often emotional: a child growing up and leaving, a relationship that is changing shape, a parent who needs more from you, a friendship drifting. You may hold your position rather than open to what is coming, because the new and the unknown feel frightening.

The same hurt, again and again

When the elbow is inflamed, the question is what you oppose with so much resistance. You may feel that the same events keep coming round, and that you have to absorb the blow each time: the same criticism from a family member, the same disappointment, the same silence. You may even notice that you react in the same way each time, as if a lesson learnt had been forgotten.

Care without credit

Inflamed elbows are linked to the feeling of putting in more effort than others without receiving the credit you are due. On the left, that effort is often care: the meals, the remembering, the listening, the holding of everyone's feelings. When nobody notices, frustration builds, and with it a quiet anger you keep to yourself.

Arm's length

The left elbow also asks about embracing. A stiff left elbow may ask whom you are keeping at arm's length, perhaps because you distrust what closeness would bring. It may also ask whether you let yourself be held. In French, serrer les coudes, to press elbows together, means to stick together and support one another. A sore left elbow can ask whether you are bracing alone when you could be leaning on others.

Routine and order at home

Elbows react, spiritually, when your need for order is upset and your routine comes apart at the seams. On the left, this may be life at home: a new baby, a move, a partner's new hours, a relative staying. You may judge the people who do things differently from you, because their way questions your habits. The elbow then stiffens around the old way.

Looking inside for the answer

The elbows are also linked to welcoming new ideas and drawing on your own inner resources to choose the best direction. The left side is the side of intuition, so the left elbow may ask whether you are listening to it, or waiting for someone else to tell you which way to turn.

The other side

Right elbow pain is linked to work and action: tasks you are obliged to do, effort without recognition at work, a change of direction you refuse in your career, and pushing your way through. The left elbow asks where you are inflexible in your emotional life, the right where you are inflexible in what you do. The page on elbow pain holds both.

A gentler way to hold it

• Name the change you push against. Write down the shift at home or in a relationship that you keep resisting.
• Notice the repeated blow. If the same hurt keeps coming, ask what a different answer might be.
• Ask for recognition. Say plainly what you do, and that you would like it noticed.
• Open your arms once. Hug someone you have been holding at a distance, or let yourself be hugged.
• Let one habit bend. Allow one thing at home to be done another way.
• Listen inside. Before asking anyone else, ask yourself which direction feels right.
• Change the load. Swap the bag to the other arm, rest from the movement that hurts, and rebuild strength slowly.